FAQ

Frequently Asked Questions

 

 

Do you believe in ghosts?

I’m what you’d call a doubting believer. I’ve never seen a ghost or experienced

any ghostly-haunting type stuff, but that doesn’t mean other people haven’t.

 

What books do you like?

I enjoy reading all kinds of books! I read adult books like Clive Barker, Grady Hendrix and Stephen King, but I also read middle grade books and young adult books by Mary Downing Hahn. I love picture books, especially those illustrated by

Trina Schart Hyman, she's one of my favorite artists!

 

What books did you like as a kid?

I like a lot of different books as a kid, even though I had a lot of trouble learning how to read. My grandma had picture books at her house and the Tiny Trapeze Artist was my absolute favorite! It was a story about a tiny mouse who

saves a princess from alligators and lives with the trapeze monkeys in the jungle.

 

When did you start to write stories?

I use to make up and tell my mom and grandma and school teachers stories all the time when I was little. Sometimes my mom or grandma would help me write them out and I would add the illustrations. As I grew up, I learned to write the stories on my own and even had a Desktop-Library in Elementary school where I shared my stories with my classmates. I did this throughout second grade ( had to repeat second grade) and then in fifth grade with a friend, who I started many stories with,

but never finished too many. We had fun writing though!

 

What do you like to draw?

I used to be obsessed with fantasy so I drew many, many, many pictures of Cinderella in her ballgown and glass slippers. I drew fairies and dragons and werewolves! I still love fantasy and love to illustrate my own picture books for young readers, but these days I like to draw monsters! I love drawing vampires and lots of werewolves with long fangs and gleaming claws! It’s fun to draw monsters!

 

 

What kind of music do you like?

I like all kinds, but not real big on country, rap, techno or screamo. I do like classic rock n’ roll, heavy metal from the 80’s and certain movie sound tracks like Edward Scissor Hands. I also enjoy the Nutcracker Ballet music and music from

the movie Haunted Summer by composer Christopher Young.

 

What’s your favorite horror movie?

When I was a kid I was terrified of horror movies and the VHS boxes where I believed they lived! The kid section in the local movie rental was right by the horror movie section. I would turn the boxes around so the monsters couldn’t see me. It was funny, I was afraid of those monsters, but not the ones in the black and white movies I would watch with my Grandma Ollie whenever I stayed the night over the weekends. I watched Creature from the Black Lagoon with grandma my first time. That’s also how I came to know Vincent Price!I can’t pick just one horror movie! I love horror films from the 1980’s, they’re my favorite! I really like the first A Nightmare On Elm Street and Return of the Living Dead II. I think I like a lot of 80’s sequels, because some were so bad they were good! Troll II has nothing to do with the first Troll movie and it’s so terrible it’s a ton of fun to watch! (I collect them too!)

 

Who’s your favorite movie star?

When I was about eight or nine I loved Bruce Campbell (and I still do!). We had Army of Darkness on VHS and my cousin and I would watch it and then re-enact our favorite parts and take turns playing Ash. I love Heather Langdenkamp and Ashly Lawrence, but there is a special place in my heart for Julia Adams the actress from Creature from the Black Lagoon. I wrote to her and she was so nice to write me back! I showed my grandma, who loved that she took the time to write me …

even though Julia is a big movie star!

 

What famous people do you look up to?

I look up to famous people like Vincent Price and Millicent Patrick. Mr. Price was from Missouri like me, loved horror movies, like me, loved art, like me and was just such a nice guy it was hard not to look up to some one who was scary on the screen and such a gentleman in real life. I liked learning about Millicent Patrick because she was a girl, like me,  who loved monsters like me, and was not only a fashion model, one of the first women to work for Disney, but designed the Gillman from Creature of the Black Lagoon. These two people had things in common with me, so it felt like I wasn’t alone in the world, it felt like if we ever met, we could be friends. I didn’t have too many of those outside of my family, so it was something nice I’d think about as a kid. As an adult, I tried to model myself after these two a bit, to be a nice person in real life and a total nightmare in my middle-grade scary books and to be proud to be a girl without the fear of worrying what people would say just because

I liked monsters like Mrs. Patrick.

 

Who in your family do you admire?

I admired my Grandma Ollie a lot! She was a wonderful grandma and a hard worker and was always there when you needed her … just like her daughter, my mom. My mom is hard working and kind hearted. My dad is also hard working, kind hearted and brave! My Aunt Linda was one of the few artists in my family, so I really looked up to her too!

 

How many horror movies do you have in your collection?

Not enough! Never enough! I’m still on the search for a list of movies I’d like to have. I’ve seen many of them, but don’t have them in my collection. When my local movie rentals started going out of business I started to scoop them up as quickly as I could! DVD’s are nice, but there’s just something magical about VHS … and the one beta-max tape I accidently bought.

 

Why scary stories?

Some of that we can thank Alvin Schwartz and Stephen Gammell for. As a kid on the bus I’d see the 'big kids' with the

Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark and would be like: if the big kids are reading them then I should be reading them …

However, in the third grade I took a reading test and scored so low my teacher wouldn’t allow me to read them … which made me want to read them even more. I'm proud to say that not only did I get to read them I own a special collector’s edition I found at a flea market.

I love the stories and the art from Gammell compliments them beautifully! Watching scary movies with grandma had a hand in that too. She taught me it’s OK to be scared, and you can even have fun being scared …and scaring others … our favorite

time of the year was Halloween. Writing scary stories is fun and keeps me close to grandma.

 

Who’s your favorite author?

At one time it would have been Stephen King … then I discovered Clive Barker … I’ve read everything by

Grady Hendrix … and Joe Hill … but it’s Mary Downing Hahn that wins the prize.

 

What’s your favorite candy?

I am addicted to gushers and fruit by the foot! But there use to be these little suckers you only saw during

Halloween that were orange and were decorated like smiling jack-o-lanterns with big triangle black eyes and a big smile.

I really liked those! I’d trade just about any candy for those!

 

What’s your favorite food?

I like all kinds of food for all different reasons, but I’m a burger and fries kind of gal. I also really like chocolate milkshakes!

 

What’s the scariest movie you’ve ever seen?

I don’t know … but scenes with Freddy and his glove creep me out a lot! There’s also a film by Clive Barker that has certain scenes that I watch through my fingers. Don’t know if they’re the scariest, but they give me goosebumps!

 

R.L Stine or Mary Shelly?

Both! I fell in love Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein (and the Boris Karloff version) and R.L Stine was another author I wasn’t allowed to read in school because of my poor test scores. So you know this girl had to read all of them AND the Fear Street series.

 

Werewolves or Vampires?

I’ve always had this fascination with werewolves since my second grade teacher showed my class this book one October called:

Meet the Werewolf, also illustrated by Stephen Gammell. I liked the idea of a person changing into an animal and running amuck!

I had a binder that I drew gosh knows how many different werewolves and werecats and werebunnies!

As a kid I had to learn everything about them and then when I was older had to collect as many werewolf movies as possible for my VHS collection. I like vampires … but only certain ones. Bella Lugosi and Christopher Lee were pretty cool vampires and the vampires from Fright Night were 80’s awesome, but I just can’t stand vampire-lovey-dovey-stuff! I’m pretty sure the

undead have never sparkled in their after-lives!

 

Were you afraid of the dark or monsters under your bed?

Both! I use to be terrified of the dark and always thought there was some monster under my bed.

My mom sprayed monster-be-gone under my bed once … it’s seemed to keep them at bay …

 

If you could meet one person, living or dead, who would it be?

One? Just one? I don’t know! I always wanted to meet George A. Romero (RIP) or William Castle (RIP) or Millicent Patrick (RIP), but I wrote to John Landis and Lloyd Kauffman and think it’d be nice to meet them in person. I would love to meet the guys and gals of DEADMEAT on youtube. I use to want to meet this Horror Movie Hostess … but now I think I want to meet the horror writers and directors … no offense!

 

Popcorn or potato chips?

Yes!

 

Pizza with your scary movies?

Yes … depending on the film. I can’t eat anything other than popcorn when it comes to movies like the 1980’s remake of The Fly … if you haven’t seen it … eat light the day you watch it …

 

 

Night of the Living Dead or Return of the Living Dead?

There would be no Return Of without Night Of, but I really like both films. I learned that Return Zombies talk and Night Zombies never did and a lot of people (including me for the longest time) thought they did, like all zombies went around saying: Brrraaaiiinnnsss! No it was just the ones from Return. I don’t think Romero’s zombies had that much to say, really.

 

Freddy or Jason?

Jason! My mom took me when I was in high-school to see Freddy vs. Jason at the theatre and we had a blast! Mom was for team Freddy and I was for team Jason! A lot of people don’t like that movie, but I do because it will always be a happy memory of me and my mom … also Freddy got his head cut off so Jason wins! (I win! Sorry mom!)

 

What else do you collect besides horror movies?

Bat plushies. Glass things don’t last long around me, I think it’s a curse of some kind. But toys, bat plushies, mouse and rat plushies, owl plushies, they fall and it’s not complete chaos. I also collect books illustrated by

Trina Schart Hyman and Steven Gammell and all of Mary Downing Hahn’s Ghost Stories.

 

Where do you story ideas come from?

I once read there’s no magic dump for story ideas. Mine come from all over really, like most writers, I guess. Sometimes I read a word, or smell something baking, or hear some piece of music and the idea just comes. I think Clive Barker said something about the same with art: It comes without any wonderful invitation, it just comes. However, I will say that 80’s horror has inspired me a lot lately!

 

Can I have your autograph?

Of course! You can send me your mailing address through my official website and I'll do my best to write you back!

 

Do you read other people’s stories? Like from other non-published writers?

Only my close friends and usually only for fun. The same goes for my art, I only paint and draw for

my good and close friends and usually it’s for fun or as a gift.

 

Can I write about you for my school report?

Of course! Feel free to use this FAQ page and e-mail me via my official website if you have other questions.

 

Favorite show on YouTube?

I like a lot of things on YouTube, but really enjoy DEADMEAT and Rachel Maksy.

 

How long to plan to write and publish?

Till the end of my days and I hope I have many, many, many, many, many days left!